Alonso: Titles the only goal for Renault

The Spanish driver finished in fifth place in 2008 following a very strong end to the season, in which he won two races despite a disappointing start to the campaign.

With radical new rules coming into play this year, Alonso believes there is a big opportunity for Renault to revive their fortunes and fight for both titles once again.

Alonso won two titles with Renault in 2005 and 2006, and as the French squad unveiled their new R29, the Spaniard reckons his team are in great shape to fight on top once more.

"At the moment I think Flavio and me, the whole team is really optimistic, and I think there is only one target for this 2009 championship, which is winning the drivers' championship and winning the Constructors' Championship. Both championships are the target," Alonso told reporters at the end of testing at the Algarve circuit.

"Everybody is focused on this and all the results that we have from the wind tunnel, the engine dyno, everything is more optimistic that we expected.

"The results are better than we predicted so everybody is quite motivated. But you never know. You need a few factors to be champion at the end of the year, but hopefully I think for the first race we will be able to fight for the podium at least."

He added: "If we don't need the championship it will be a disappointing season. Obviously if after three or four races you are nowhere then you have to change your targets, but now in January you have to be really, really optimistic and we are now."

Team boss Flavio Briatore was also adamant that Alonso will be fighting for the title.

"He was (fighting on top) last year at the end of the season. I don't see why he should not be there this season, I don't see any reason why he won't be there," the Italian said.

"We improved the car, and if last year the championship started in June rather than March, if there was a mistake in the calendar, then we are there. Unfortunately we started in March - now we know we start in March. Everybody in the team knows the first race is in March."

Briatore also reckons that the rule changes will not hinder the momentum Renault carried at the end of 2008.

"I don't think so," he said. "What happened last year was we made tremendous development of the car through the season. It was because we come back to our normal performance.

"We had a terrible year from (the end of) 2006 and 2007, after we change the tyres from Michelin to Bridgestone, at the moment we did not understand why we were in the wrong direction.

"It cost us six or seven months as going in this direction meant we were starting from the wrong base. It is like building a castle in the sand - it looks good but in the end it collapses.

"Last year we come back to our usual business of Renault because we understand what is going on and we improve dramatically the car during the season. Everything we tested was correct. We are building the car with the same philosophy and the same principle, and we are pretty sure we have done a good job. I don't see a reason why we will not be competitive next year."

Alonso, who has been linked with a Ferrari deal for a long time now, admitted he is hoping a very strong year with Renault will end with all the speculation about his future.

"I have been answering this question for four or five years," he said about the Ferrari rumours.

"Hopefully this year I can be more relaxed about this question if we are winning races and fighting for the championship we'll forget Ferrari. That's my aim, because I'm really concentrated in 2009 and more motivated and more prepared than ever.

"With all these changes I'm really looking forward to sitting in the car. And when we talk about 2010, or 11 or 12 is really a difficult question to answer. I'm not looking that far away."